Man charged with attempted murder after standoff with Hernando deputies

A standoff between Hernando deputies and an armed male suspect in the Hill ‘n Dale area Monday ended when authorities stormed the shed he was hiding in, deputies said.

Andrew Raymond Vaughn-Elliot, 27, faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, domestic battery, resisting an officer with violence, committing an offense against a police dog, tampering with a victim/witness and possession of a firearm by a felon.

The incident began when Vaughn-Elliot’s mother refused to pick him up from an unknown location Monday morning. Vaughn-Elliot became angry and had a friend drive him and his girlfriend to his mother’s home on Mondon Hill Road, where he started arguing with her, according to a report from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.

Vaughn-Elliot became violent when he believed his mother tried to get into his locked room and started emptying the drawers in the kitchen and throwing items on the floor, according to the report.

He grabbed a large carving knife and placed it against his mother’s throat, telling her he was going to kill her, deputies said.

His mother struggled to break free and cut her finger to the bone during the altercation, deputies said.

The woman screamed for help and her daughter locked herself in her bedroom. Vaughn-Elliot ripped the door off the hinges, grabbed his sister by her hair and dragged her from the bedroom, according to the report. He took cell phones from his sister and mother so they could not call authorities and battered the women, deputies said.

Vaughn-Elliot’s mother went to an emergency room where staff alerted authorities, deputies said.

Deputies found Vaughn-Elliot at a home in the 6300 block of Raley Road in Brooksville.

He told deputies he had a handgun and got on the roof of the home, according to the report.

As backup arrived, Vaughn-Elliot moved to a shed on the property, barricading himself inside, the report said.

Hernando’s crisis response team negotiated with Vaughn-Elliot over the next few hours but he refused to exit the building and frequently mentioned “suicide-by-cop,” according to the report.

During that time, deputies spoke with Vaughn-Elliot’s girlfriend Brittani Diggett to find out if he had a gun. Diggett told authorities that she knew for a fact that Vaughn-Elliot was not armed, according to a report from the sheriff’s office.

Based on that information, a deputies entered the shed with a K-9 unit. Vaughn-Elliot drew his handgun and threatened to shoot two deputies, according to the report. The K-9 was deployed and Vaughn-Elliot grabbed the dog by the neck and threatened to shoot it, the report said. A deputy grabbed Vaughn-Elliot’s gun and the two began fighting over it, deputies said.

The deputy got control of the gun but Vaughn-Elliot continued to resist so another deputy deployed a stun gun to subdue him, the report said.

Vaughn-Elliot was treated at a hospital for dog bite injuries before being booked into the Hernando County Detention Center where he was being held without bond.

Diggett, Vaughn-Elliot’s girlfriend, was charged with obstructing an officer after admitting that she knew her boyfriend had a gun and told deputies otherwise, according to a report. She was taken to the Hernando County Detention Center and was being held on $1,000 bond.